Kamrul Islam, a farmer in Rupsia village of Dhansiri union in Jhalokati Sadar upazila, is making money from bottle gourd grown on trellises without chemical pesticides. On land beside the Gabkhan river he follows good agricultural practice (GAP), using vermicompost, sex pheromone traps and sticky traps.
Under the agriculture ministry's PARTNER programme, Kamrul Islam and Mizanur Rahman jointly grew gourd this way on 100 decimals in the kharif season of the 2025-26 financial year. The field gets only organic fertiliser, mostly vermicompost, and is irrigated from a deep tube well. Traps, not pesticides, keep the insects down.
Kamrul learned the methods at a farmer field school. Before, he grew seasonal crops and struggled to support his family. "Because I follow good agricultural practice, my costs are falling and I am getting a good yield," he said.
More than 250 gourds have already been sold from his field and over 300 more are hanging on the vines. Buyers and wholesalers come from far away to buy at the field, and he also takes some to market himself. Two labourers work with him regularly.
Barring a major flood, he expects to earn Tk 3-4 lakh a year after costs, and is preparing about 10 bighas to grow on a larger scale. Yasin, a buyer at the field, said the gourds were fresh and of good quality and that many people want vegetables grown in an environmentally friendly way.
Jhalokati Sadar upazila agriculture officer Ali Ahmed said the agriculture department advises on Kamrul's plot regularly and has supplied seed of an improved variety. He said gourd covers 40 hectares in the upazila this season, with an estimated market value of more than Tk 1 crore.
Pheromone traps lure and catch the males of particular pests, so less spraying is needed. For small vegetable growers, the example shows that safe produce can find buyers while costs come down. Agricare24 carried the story from Dhaka Post.
Photo: Salim Khandoker / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Agricare24
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